


A Peculiar Pause

by notjustmom



Series: Ironstrange [64]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, M/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:22:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23839810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustmom/pseuds/notjustmom
Summary: I'm terrible at titles, this one comes from Neil Gaiman, from a brief TedTalk piece I found on twitter this morning. This fic is not pandemic related - but in honor of a year in which we survived Endgame, more or less.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: Ironstrange [64]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1163456
Comments: 10
Kudos: 30





	A Peculiar Pause

There was a peculiar pause, he seemed to recall, when everything, for one moment, or less than a moment eased to a halt, then he blinked and the pause came to an ending and he closed his eyes again.

"Stark." 

"Tony."

"Douchebag."

His eyes popped open and he glared at the owner of the voice, tried to move towards him and swore as he stopped moving. "Oh, damn."

"No, don't move. Not yet."

"Strange?"

"You're okay. You'll be okay."

"Tell me?"

Stephen bit his lip, then managed a rare grin. "You did it."

"Why does everything hurt?"

"It's going to, for a while. I was able to stop, no, it was more of a pause. I paused everything just long enough -"

"Wait, back up, you did what, now?"

"Tony."

"You of all people know -"

"I couldn't allow -." Stephen shook his head and gently placed his trembling fingers in Tony's hair. "Everyone is fine. They are where they are meant to be. You are meant to be here, with me."

"Is that what your crystal ball told you, Strange?"

"I could only see so far - on Titan. I know, damn, I know I -"

Tony groaned as he shifted, then asked quietly, "What year is it?"

"What year?" Strange cleared his throat and looked away from Tony's face as he whispered, "It's 2018."

"What d'ya mean, it's 2018?"

"We are the only ones who will ever know. As far as everyone else is concerned, the snap never happened, it was never a thing, not, not in this timeline, anyway. The stones are where they are supposed to be, you will heal -"

"You did this- ?"

"For you, and for me, because -." Strange's weary voice faded to nothing, then he wrapped Mina around himself and settled back into the chair next to the bed where Tony was resting, the chair he had spent most of the last few weeks, waiting for Tony to open his eyes.

"Come here."

"Tony."

Stephen rolled his eyes as Tony gave him his best pouty face, and batted his ridiculous eyelashes at him. "Please, can you, just until I fall asleep again?"

Mina lifted from his shoulders and gave him a gentle nudge in Tony's direction. "Yeah, yeah, all right already." He went around to the other side of the bed and gingerly climbed in next to Tony, then let out a relieved sigh as Tony settled against his shoulder.

"I know one day we'll pay for this, one way or another, but, thank you for saving me again, Wizard," Tony whispered, before he drifted off to sleep again.


End file.
